Bird Classes
We've reached the point in Birdie's life where we've started taking her to a lot of classes. None of them are a long-term as her Sunday School, but what they lack in duration they make up in quantity. Among the classes she's taken so far:
- Since January, she's done two sections of Music Class with Miss Tracey at the Beck Center. I took her to two of them, and they were a lot of fun. Birdie is notable in being that kid who gets up and is very enthusiastically participating even when the other kids might be shy or confused.
- We decided to switch up the Beck Center classes for the summer, and starting this week instead of Music Class she has Art Class. Art Class started yesterday, and M reports that the teacher did heroic work directing a gaggle of little kids into all making more or less the same general art project.
- Also at the Beck Center this summer is Dance Class. This is the first Beck Center class where the parents are not expected to be in the room. In fact, it's not even allowed. Birdie has her black leotard, pink tights and ballet flats ready to go. Her hair has to go in a bun. It starts tomorrow, and maybe it will fulfill M's long-held joke about being a crazy dance mom.
- Also ongoing right now are swim lessons at the local YMCA. M has been trying to get Birdie into swim lessons for ages, and they've always been full up. Or so the Y staff claimed, anyway, because this time when M called to check they said "oh, there's a class right now that's not full, do you want to join it?" Uh, yes.
- It's currently paused for the summer, but in addition to Sunday School, we also try to take Birdie to the monthly Shabbat Tots program put on by the synagogue. It usually meets at a local library and involves songs, dancing and games for an hour. Inevitably, Birdie wants to break out of the room and wonder the library afterwords.
- It wasn't a class per se, but last week Birdie went to nature camp at the North Chagrin Nature Center. It was three days (Tuesday through Thursday) and she did all sorts of fun outdoor activities, like building forts, hiking to a waterfall and having snacks. Ok, so that last isn't exclusively an outdoor activity. That nature center is a bit of a haul, so M brought a book and read at a nearby library.
- Nature Camp wasn't our first foray into formal nature center based education. In December, M took Birdie to the Bay Village Nature Center for a few weeks to test run a nature day camp, but as previously noted M deemed it not worth the money.
- This doesn't count the many, many library story times. We're absolutely getting value for our tax dollars that go to the library system, and that doesn't even count the adult books.
- Since January, she's done two sections of Music Class with Miss Tracey at the Beck Center. I took her to two of them, and they were a lot of fun. Birdie is notable in being that kid who gets up and is very enthusiastically participating even when the other kids might be shy or confused.
- We decided to switch up the Beck Center classes for the summer, and starting this week instead of Music Class she has Art Class. Art Class started yesterday, and M reports that the teacher did heroic work directing a gaggle of little kids into all making more or less the same general art project.
- Also at the Beck Center this summer is Dance Class. This is the first Beck Center class where the parents are not expected to be in the room. In fact, it's not even allowed. Birdie has her black leotard, pink tights and ballet flats ready to go. Her hair has to go in a bun. It starts tomorrow, and maybe it will fulfill M's long-held joke about being a crazy dance mom.
- Also ongoing right now are swim lessons at the local YMCA. M has been trying to get Birdie into swim lessons for ages, and they've always been full up. Or so the Y staff claimed, anyway, because this time when M called to check they said "oh, there's a class right now that's not full, do you want to join it?" Uh, yes.
- It's currently paused for the summer, but in addition to Sunday School, we also try to take Birdie to the monthly Shabbat Tots program put on by the synagogue. It usually meets at a local library and involves songs, dancing and games for an hour. Inevitably, Birdie wants to break out of the room and wonder the library afterwords.
- It wasn't a class per se, but last week Birdie went to nature camp at the North Chagrin Nature Center. It was three days (Tuesday through Thursday) and she did all sorts of fun outdoor activities, like building forts, hiking to a waterfall and having snacks. Ok, so that last isn't exclusively an outdoor activity. That nature center is a bit of a haul, so M brought a book and read at a nearby library.
- Nature Camp wasn't our first foray into formal nature center based education. In December, M took Birdie to the Bay Village Nature Center for a few weeks to test run a nature day camp, but as previously noted M deemed it not worth the money.
- This doesn't count the many, many library story times. We're absolutely getting value for our tax dollars that go to the library system, and that doesn't even count the adult books.